What surprised us the most today is that everybody was leaving the rally –- several days early. Many hundreds of people had come up to 2 weeks early and had endured the driving downpours that brought flooding to the area; with storms to move in again seriously tonight, maybe they were just tired of the rain. Or maybe there is something else going on we don’t know about! I would say that 2/3 of the Airstreams have left the parking lots at this point! Tom and I took another Scenic Route excursion today on Route 60. This is the route that we would have taken to the Bridge Walk on Monday except that much of it was impassable because of high water. The drive was indeed scenic with West Virginia farms and a covered bridge hidden on a very "back" road. Today we saw evidence of flooding all along the route. One little town was just a long mass of piled-up rubbish that had been pulled out beside the road for pick-up. There were lots of distribution centers for free food, Clorox, and bottled water. We did not make it to our destination of the little town of Rainelle, as it appeared there was still quite a bit of slow-down and blocking of the only road. I saw a post on the WBCCI Rally Facebook page about a little store in Alderson being open today – one that we passed yesterday that had been closed. It was so unique looking that I persuaded Tom to back-track to it today. One way to support the locals was to show up and make purchases from their open stores! This store was a doozy, full of generations of history and unique items, and I bought a little art-deco hummingbird decorative fan to help stir the air in the Airstream.The owner of the store is the great-granddaughter of the original owner, and this interesting outside design was built especially to his order. The granddaughter left the small town of Alderson for awhile, but returned to take care of her invalid parents, and to keep the family store open. She told us that Fourth of July and Christmas are the main events that enable stores like hers to keep open, and the flooding of the town has been almost devastating. (I also bought a little something for you, Lou – I just had to leave some money in this hard-hit town!) Our parking lot is getting more deserted by the minute and we now have open spots on all four sides of us. Tomorrow we are going to go to the flea market/craft sale in the morning, and at noon there is a picnic for the Region 4 members that are still here – fried chicken provided. In the afternoon I have a plan to do laundry so that we can leave Tuesday morning for the rest of the vacation.
1 Comment
Lou
7/7/2016 10:24:49 pm
I love you, Ella. Still no internet, so I can read your blog. I hope you never stop! We feel like we are right there with you.
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October 2021
We don’t go camping any more . . . we go ‘streamin’ ! The “SIlvermine and His” is our 2018 25' Airstream Serenity with Salsa interior and front twin beds., and ‘streamin’ is the name we use to describe our adventures. Stream along as we document everything from weekend trips to longer summer excursions and full-blown vacations. You know what they say: if you’re not in an Airstream – you’re just camping!
Tom & Ella Brown |